Promoting social cohesion: the role of community media - amarc

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sector by the same Griffith Universityresearch group (Forde etal 2002), it complements andtests the findings of quantitativeaudience research, the McNairIngenuity questionnaire study,using focus groups and qualitativemethods.2. Both the 2002 and 2007 studieswere financed by an impressivecollaboration of academic, government,sector and user organisations.Support came from theAustralian Research Council, theCommunity Broadcasting Foundation(the body which distributesfederal funding to thesector), the Federal Departmentof Communication, InformationTechnology and the Arts, and therepresentative associations of thethird sector, the CommunityBroadcasting Association of Australiaand its indigenous and ethniccounterparts.Public profile of the sectorAt a recent international colloquiumin London, 7there was generalagreement that more accessiblesummaries of research into theimpact of community media neededto be made available, that the successesof community media,whether confirmed by formalresearch or not, should be morewidely publicised, and that the caseshould be made for recognisingcommunity media as a form ofpublic service.AMARC’s recent Community RadioSocial Impact Assessment agrees:“Community radio achievementsare not properly highlighted and/ordisseminated […] in spite of a largebody of evidence on communityradio social impact, CR practitionersand stakeholders have not taken thetime and the efforts needed topresent systematically the achievementsof community radio worldwide.”(AMARC 2007: 38)The point about the need for ahigher profile for the sector is confirmedby several of the recommendationsof the European Parliamentstudy which identified:• The need for increased networkingand knowledge exchangebetween CM organisations andassociations.• The need for more continuousrepresentation at EU level inorder to develop a public profileof the sector.(European Parliament 2007:52)Training and lifelong learningAn important contribution to lifelonglearning is made by the thirdsector media. The chance to workwith media attracts people in the roleof volunteers who are often notreached by formal educational systems,or whose original educationalexperience was a disappointment.The presence of volunteers workingin community media is part ofthe raison d’être of the sector: itensures that the community is representedat the heart of the project.Training is, then, an integral part ofthe operation. A survey conductedfor AMARC-Europe in the mid-1990s estimated that between40 000 to 50 000 people were workingin the community radio sector incountries of the EU, and commentedthat “the significance [of training] isincreasing as the effects of freemarket competition weaken thetraining provision which has been atraditional feature of the [mainstream]industry” (Lewis 1994). Insupplying the mainstream withtrained recruits, the sector couldjustifiably claim to be a “gateway toemployment”.But the sector’s contribution tothe mainstream in this area is notnearly as significant as the widerand longer-term effects of communitymedia training which should beconsidered as coming under the categoryof lifelong learning. As arecent publication on the empoweringeffect of community mediatraining puts it:“Those whose opinions are rarelygiven a hearing may have forgotten,or never learned, how to expressthem. If technical training is combinedwith research, production andpresentation skills, which communityradio routinely offers, the experiencecan also equip people with a self-confidencethat is motivating. It can leadto employment – not necessarily inthe media – and a fuller participationin today’s information society.”(Lewis & Jones 2006:6)More specific skills, whose acquisitioncan lead to further educationalexperience or to formalemployment opportunities, havebeen summarised 8 as:• Skills for the knowledgesocietyWorking in the media isattractive to all ages, so theprospect of training in mediaskills brings in many people whohave had limited education and/or a poor experience of it. Digitalskills are a necessary part ofproduction and use of the webfor programme researchintroduces and improvesresearch skills. Neither can beexploited without social andcommunicative skills.Acquisition of all these skillsbrings self-confidence and all aretransferable to social andemployment settings in aknowledge society.7. See here where a link will be provided to the report of the colloquium when it is available.8. By META-Europe, a media training consortium with partners in seven European countries and experience in education and training, broadcastingand academic media research. See here where there is a link to previous projects funded under the EU’s adult education programmeSocrates - “Creating Community Voices” and “Digital Dialogues” (weblink), the projects whose experience is reported in Lewis & Jones 2006,cited above.24 Promoting social cohesion: the role of community media
• Making learning moreattractiveThe training includes and leadsto work in community media –which is unpaid, voluntarywork, but can lead to paidemployment in mainstreammedia or elsewhere – one of thereasons training is so attractive.The other is that the work iscreative, takes place alongsideinteresting workmates ofdifferent ages and cultures, andoften involves research andinterviewing that “turns thetables” on normal powerhierarchies, e.g. a young personwith limited formal education isassigned to record an interviewwith a local politician andafterwards edit and broadcastthe interview, or a woman,trained by women, becomes anexpert in technical areas.• Learning to learnBoth in the training and in thesubsequent experience in communitymedia, the incentive tolearn will be strong, driven bythe desire to tell a story, find outabout oneself or others, or learna technique necessary to fulfilthose desires. A momentum isestablished which can be transformingand lead along newpathways to entry into furthereducation.• Interpersonal, interculturaland social competences andcivic competenceMedia work involves teamworkand community media projectsare committed to a democraticprocess of decision making andaccountability which forms everydaywork as well as longertermpolicy. Civic competence islearned through the negotiationsa community radio station mustmake in dealing with local civilsociety and local authorities.• Media literacyWork in community mediaraises the level of awareness ofthe status and power of mainstreammedia in society and atthe same time provides skills increative expression through useof media. 9• EntrepreneurshipStories must be “sold” as well astold. Negotiation (entrepreneurship)comes into the business ofpersuading colleagues andproject manager about length,scheduling, budget, etc. Fundraisingis part of the process andwhen collaboration is involvedwith, e.g. a local NGO, furthernegotiating and administrativeskills are required.An example of best practice intraining is the work of Radio Regenin Manchester, UK, to which theEuropean Parliament report rightlydraws attention. The organisationprovides accredited training andoffers the online Community RadioTool-Kit which offers advice on runningand funding community mediaprojects (European Parliament2007: 6;weblink)MultiplatformThe arrival of technologies whichfacilitate social networking (e.g.MySpace, YouTube) and make it possiblefor individuals to record events(with phones and cameras) and contributeimages, sounds and opinionsthrough blogging software has createda new context for what mightbe described as traditional communitymedia. On the one hand, mainstreammedia are urgently trying toadapt and co-opt the intrusion of“citizen journalism” and “usergeneratedcontent”; on the otherhand, community media projectsare beginning to use a wide range ofweb applications to complementtheir local activity.The simulcasting of web and FMtransmissions is increasinglycommon among licensed CR stations,and webcasting itself is astand-alone alternative for stationsunable to obtain a licence. Theglobal reach of the Internet makeswebcasting particularly importantfor diasporic and migrant communities,keeping them in contact withtheir homelands.Livestreaming of events has enabledconnection and collaborationbetween CR stations from differentcontinents. Radio Orange 94.0 inVienna effected a live exchange withRadio Número Crítico in Santiago,Chile, on International Woman’sDay, 2003, each making use ofsimultaneous translation intoGerman and Spanish (Mitchell &Jones 2006:140).Not surprisingly, the moresophisticated developments can befound in the USA. The authors of arecent report for the Benton Foundation,What’s Going on in CommunityMedia?, comment that “increasingly,community media development ishappening through networks oflocal non-profit media organisations,rather than within singleorganisations” (Johnson, F. & Menichelli2007:21). Such organisations,they note, attract and train a talentedworkforce, contribute to economicdevelopment and promotecommunity dialogue especiallyamong marginalised voices while“allowing the community to undertakeits own development democratically”(ibid.p.22).9. The detail of what is involved in media literacy was spelled out by OLON in a comment on an early version of this report: “In the last 25 yearsin the Netherlands alone, more than 150 000 people have learned how radio and television works by participating in local media: producingprogrammes, writing scenarios, presenting news programmes, interviewing council members, building local websites, participating in localrepresentative media boards, building radio studios from scratch, handling cameras. That alone is already an invaluable contribution to society:letting hundreds of thousand of citizens take media into their own hands!”4. Characteristics of third sector media 25
Page 4 and 5: The opinions expressed in this publ
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Page 40: Annex 1The Community Radio Charter
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